My reasons for replacement are that Amazon have altered the way the device works (wifi turn on/off is no longer in the main menu) without asking and I find that although wifi is turned off when the Kindle is attached to the computer via usb cable it has automatically turned on when the device is unteathered from the computer!

You can still turn WiFi off. Put the Kindle into "Airplane Mode", if you turn it off it shouldn't turn back on unless you tell it to.

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I am also disturbed by increasing reports of Amazon closing down accounts which means you can't access content for which you have paid.

Increasing reports? Can you point them out, because if true that's something I want to be aware of as well. All I've seen is basically similar reports every six months or so always by one user each time.

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So, I am looking for a new device preferably one that is not tied to a particular retailer where wifi can be permanently turned off (I realise to get a reader without wifi is likely to be difficult).

As an aside I did think of deregistering the Kindle but can find little info on the net about this.

You don't say which Kindle model you own, but in general registration options can be found under Settings in the device menu. You can also deregister on your Manage Your Kindle page on the Amazon website if I recall correctly.